Dirty Little Secret
by hepster
Summary: An early morning venture after a rough night of sleep leads Shaggy to an unexpected discovery about a certain bespectacled young genius. {Shelma}


The night was not kind to Norville Rogers.

At one am, he got up for a glass of water and a slightly after midnight snack consisting of a little bit of everything out of the fridge. As soon as his stomach was full, he made his way back upstairs and into the comfort of his bunk and the sweet relief of slumber.

When Shaggy awoke with a start after what seemed like a brief moment, he immediately slammed his head back onto his pillow, hoping that whatever dream had woken him up would not bother him again.

Even though his eyes were shut, his body would not relax enough to let him doze off again.

Frantically, he shifted his body to lay on his side, hoping his changed position would let him sleep, with no such luck.

He turned right.

Nothing.

He lay on his stomach.

Nothing.

And finally after a good hour of trying to fall back asleep, Shaggy figured he might as well start the day off. The alarm clock on the nightstand next to the bed taunted his fool hearted endeavor to get up at a reasonable time; 6am was just like, way too early for anyone to be up. If the sun wasn't up, then he shouldn't be either.

But, there was no point lying in bed for hours with nothing to do. Scooby wouldn't be awake for a couple more hours and the rest of the gang usually took the term 'lazy Sunday' to heart and slept in. He could probably pop in a movie before the usual morning line up of cartoons started on TV.

Shaggy flung the covers off his weary body, carefully maneuvering around his dane's sleeping form. The floor was absolutely freezing against the warm skin of his feet. He stretched his lanky limbs, hoping that getting some blood flowing would help warm him up and give him a bit more energy, all the while letting a few tired yawns escape from his mouth.

He shivered; Velma liked to chastise him over not wearing socks when he walked around the house, but socks were just so uncomfortable. Like, they were so scrunchy and itchy without any shoes to make you forget you were wearing them. Besides, warming up with a few cups of hot chocolate was much better than throwing on some ratty old pieces of fabric over your toes.

A thought occurred to him; it was way too early for everyone to be up, so the shower would be free and he wouldn't have to worry about hogging all the hot water from the girls (Fred had gotten used to taking cold showers from his athletic days back in high school; Shaggy never understood how he didn't turn into a popsicle, but to each their own). That would definitely wake him up!

He tread across the icy hardwood with a bit more spring in his step towards his dresser and picked out a tee shirt and lounge pants that would allow for optimum relaxation. He quietly shut the door behind him as he entered the hallway

Shaggy ignored the quiet creaks and moans of the floorboards as he made his way towards the washroom. Even though he knew there wasn't anything to be afraid of didn't mean that walking down dark corridor wasn't still kind of creepy. He used the wall against the palm of his hand to guide him through the blackness and silently prayed he wouldn't knock one of the pictures off the wall and wake everyone up. His tendency for clumsiness was a trait he took good note of.

Man, we like, really need a night light out here or something. It's way too creepy…

Yet, his eyes fell upon a small beam of warm yellow that definitely wasn't there when he awoke earlier in the night for some light chow. When he listened closely, his ears picked up on a strange sound. Was that humming?

He moved with caution towards the strange light, only now realizing that it was in the same direction as his well needed shower.

Someone else must be up, too.

The sound of water running down the drain confirmed his suspicions. It almost drowned out the humming, but after years of keeping his eyes and ears open for any signs of monsters or danger, Shaggy's hearing was a bit more attuned, and he could pick up that it was not humming, but rather gentle singing that echoed out into the hall. A small smile couldn't help but form at his lips as he instantly recognized the voice.

A lot of people didn't know that Velma liked to sing. She didn't do it often, especially in front of other people; she had terrible stage fright. But, he'd been around her long enough to pick up on the soft melodies she would almost whisper under her breath while she worked through clues or on one project or another. She only allowed her voice to be loud enough to reach her own ears, but Shaggy could always tell that she was in her own world of lyrics

There were many characteristics about the the young genius that took time to discover: her love for hard rock that had started way back when the Hex Girls first became big and it grew out until her entire MP3 player was filled with simple chords and powerful words, the incredible strength she possessed that made her a great martial artist and ice hockey player, and that her eyes were actually hazel with flecks of blue and not just brown like they appeared upon first glance (her glasses had a tendency to cast a shadow over their true colour).

For the longest time, he had spent his free time wondering why he knew so much about this woman that, although had been his best friend for as long as either of them could remember, was still a fairly private person. Shaggy never had to ask what her favourite band was or which book in her vast collection received the most love; he simply noticed her keeping up to date on Simple Plan's blog and she flew through Edgar Allan Poe's collection of Dupin every other week and other little details that made Velma Dinkley who she was.

After many hours of contemplation, he decided that the why of their relationship didn't really matter. They were two people that enjoyed each other's company and would continue to do so for a really, really long time so, what was there to really think about?

(But somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew exactly why he made it a point to take note of every quirk she had and every moment they spent together. He knew why she was just as important to him as Scooby and Fred and Daphne, but in a way that was very different, but felt really groovy-)

And then, Shaggy was brought out of his thoughts by something he never thought he'd ever experience.

Velma sang aloud.

Her voice echoed off the bathroom walls and into the hall and rang through his ears and filled him to the core and resonated there. In his state of enchantment, the lanky young man resigned himself to the floor next to closed doorway and sat in utter awe.

He didn't pay attention to the lyrics she sang or the distinctive sound of water falling from her hair as she washed it or how utterly freezing the ground beneath him was because in that moment nothing else but the bellow of her song was worth paying attention to.

She could sing. Not once had he ever been able to hear her and he couldn't believe he had never heard Velma sing before and this was probably the first time anyone had ever been able to enjoy the pleasure of it and he couldn't really wrap his head around what was happening.

The song changed to something slower, but with just as much passion as her previous one, and all Shaggy could do was close his eyes and try and figure out how he could describe Velma's secret talent.

Like, guess I get a free concert.

In the meanwhile, his smile grew wider and wider.

"Shaggy?"

Huh?

His eyes flickered open at the sound of his name. He took in his surroundings, still dazed from being awoken from his nap. Why am I in the hallway…?

He turned his head and was met with the orange fabric of a certain girl's robe.

He looked up.

And there was Velma, hair dry and glasses adorning her face, which looked utterly perplexed by his presence.

And then he remembered.

"Zoinks!"

Shaggy scrambled up to his feet, leaving his pile of clothes on the floor and berating himself for having fallen asleep again. He was in big trouble.

Velma spoke slowly, confused by his rather odd spectacle. "What were you doing on the floor?"

"Um, like….just taking a snooze! You know how like, Scooby hogs the bed sometimes," I'm dead.

"Really?" she put her hands on her hips, obviously not buying his weak story. Her stern eyes moved from his face towards his discarded garments and back up to him. "Norville, what were you doing out here?"

Uh-oh; first name meant business. The lanky young man sighed, defeated.

He broke away from her stare for a moment to gather up his courage, then sheepishly looked back up at her. "Okay, so like, I was up all night and I like, couldn't sleep so I thought that I like, might as well get up, and like, the floor was freezing so I was like, going to like, take a shower to like, warm up, and like-"

Her hand touched the side of his face. "Shaggy, breathe. I can't understand you when you use like every two seconds," Velma gently reprimanded with an encouraging smile. He took a deep breath and let her hand fall to her side before continuing.

"Like, thanks, V. Uh, so I grabbed my clothes for today and like, walked out here and saw the bathroom light on and I like….heard you….."

Her face fell instantly, completely shocked by his revelation. "Y-You heard? Oh jinkies...oh jinkies-"

"I'm, like, really sorry Velma! I couldn't help it, I didn't really like, really hear anything at first and then you just like, sang and you were so beautiful I couldn't help it, like, please don't be mad!"

How could he have invaded her privacy like that? There was a reason she was always so quiet and it was because she didn't want to be heard and he had gone and violated her trust like that! She'd probably never want to see him again after what he'd pulled and he deserved it and so much more-

"You thought I was beautiful?"

Shaggy looked back to her; her face flushed and her delicate hands clenching and unclenching at her robe from embarrassment and her blue hazel eyes still shining from the water of her shower.

"Well, yeah, Velma. I like, always think you're beautiful, but yeah. You like, have an amazing voice."

It took a second for him to realize that he'd just revealed a lot more than he intended to; the pair stood in awkward silence, Shaggy unable to look away from her to gauge her reaction of shock that then faded into a warm smile. There was a look on her face that obviously meant he'd said something right.

It had been the truth though, and that's what made him feel ten times better.

She cleared her throat a bit, bringing both of them back into reality with a smile that lit up her face "Thank you, Shaggy. That's really sweet of you to say."

He returned the gesture instantly. "Like, anytime."

"But, you won't, you know...?"

"Like, Scout's honour."

"You weren't even in the Scout's, Shaggy." She punched him playfully in the arm and he feigned pain and the couple had a good laugh like they always did after a touching moment. They both knew that he'd never speak a word about it to each other or anyone else until the time was right, and up to that moment, it would be their little secret.

"So, what am I making you for breakfast today? A twelve stack of triple berry and chocolate pancakes with anchovies per your usual Sunday request?" Velma inquired.

But for the second time that morning, Shaggy had a brilliant idea.

"Like, why don't you let me make you something, Velma? It'll be payment for that like, free concert."

A bit of red rose to her cheeks upon mentioning it, but the sight of her was worth making her flustered. She shook it off immediately, a grin gracing her face.

"You've got yourself a deal, Norville! Let me go get dressed while you whip up something that's edible for people that don't have an iron stomach." He laughed at her retribution for his earlier jab, waving her off while watching her walk back towards her bedroom to prepare for the day.

Shaggy waited a brief moment before heading into the bathroom to change and freshen up. The events of the past few minutes still seemed surreal; he'd gotten to experience another part of Velma that made her even more amazing than he ever could have imagined and she was okay with him knowing about it and all he could really do was think about her and everything he knew about her and all the little things he probably didn't.

It filled him with a great sense of joy; he'd never get bored of Velma. He'd always be learning more and more about one of his best friends in the entire world and he'd fall a little bit more in love with her each time he did and he'd happily go through a thousand restless nights to learn a thousand more details of what made Velma Velma.

But for now, he'd settle for breakfast.


End file.
